Oct 7 - Cycling in Belgrade

Belgrade, situated at the confluence of the Sava River and Danube River, was destroyed and rebuilt 44 times over the centuries as it shuttled between the Roman, Byzantine, Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian Empires. It is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Europe and the world. It was the capital of Yugoslavia until ethnic unrest exploded into full out war in the 1990s. Since 2006, Belgrade has been the thriving capital city of the newly formed Republic of Serbia. It has emerged as a banking and media centre as it awaits entry into the EU. Its population is about 1.7 million.

Belgrade is home to the world’s largest Orthodox Christian church, neo-Byzantine St. Sava’s dome towers over the city. The church can hold 10,000 people. Belgrade University is one of the largest in Europe, with 90,000 students. Those students have made Belgrade into a serious party town, with lots of floating nightclubs on barges along the riverfront.

Our activity for today (another glorious, warm, sunny day) was a bike ride to the new part of Belgrade. Our guide was Jelena and her sweeper was Stefan. Jelena explained the new buildings going up in the waterfront area – much of the construction money comes the United Arab Emirates, and many of the expensive apartments/condos are now occupied by Russians. On the other side of the river, and area that used to be swampy and held a concentration camp during the war, is where much more construction is taking place.

We did a lot of biking and not much picture taking. Our destination was Lake Sava on Ada Ciganlija, with its man-made beaches of about 6 km in length, is the largest open swimming area in the Republic of Serbia, which welcomes up to 150,000 visitors on a daily basis during the summer bathing season. The area boasts tennis courts, pickleball courts, playgrounds, BBQ pits, picnic tables, soccer fields and lots and lots of green space – a really welcome relief from the city especially in summer. The area also boasts diving and rowing competition facilities. We stopped for a break at a little café. We got to watch automated water skiing – no boat/motor/driver/spotter required – very eco-friendly. Lines with handles just rotate around a course and the skier snags one and is guided around, past buoys and over small jumps. Very cool.Read more